Newport Montessori

Newport Montessori approaches each child as an individual with unique talents and needs. The school aims to help students meet grade-level learning benchmarks through classroom instruction, small-group projects, one-on-one tutoring, and specialty class enrichment.

The school believes that children learn best when engaged in hands-on activities and given opportunities to explore their interests. Its child-centered approach fosters independence, creativity, and critical thinking skills. Their approach nurtures each child’s innate desire to learn by providing an environment that encourages exploration and discovery.

The Elementary program serves students aged 6 to 12 and is divided into two multi-year cycles: Lower Elementary for ages 6 to 9 and Upper Elementary for ages 9 to 11. Students remain in the same classroom for multiple years, fostering community and deepening relationships with teachers. Elementary students use concrete materials to learn, gradually progressing toward abstract thinking. The lessons and materials are multi-sensory, dramatic, and impressionistic, sparking students’ imagination and curiosity.

The Montessori spiral curriculum introduces students to interrelated topics repeatedly over time. With each repetition, students build on existing knowledge, explore details, recognize connections, and develop a deep understanding of the complex world. The core of the Montessori Elementary curriculum, known as “Cosmic Education,” includes significant lessons on the origin of the universe, life on Earth, human emergence, and the history of math and writing.

The Middle School program, encompassing grades 6, 7, and 8, is housed in a multi-aged setting called the Junior Classroom (JC). This program promotes a new level of independence by increasing students’ responsibility for work level, choices, and planning. In the JC, the Great Lessons, timelines, and charts are replaced with overviews of learning sequences, for which students take responsibility within an integrated curriculum. Students have open time to collaborate on self-initiated and instructor-initiated projects, allowing for individualized instruction, a natural pace for mastering material, and opportunities to explore art, science, music, business, and other topics of interest. The JC curriculum includes Mathematics (differentiated for each learning level), English/Language Arts, Science, Social Studies/History, Practical Life, Spanish, Art, Music, and Physical Education, adhering to the Montessori curriculum while aligning with the NH Department of Education’s common core standards.

The JC classroom operates a class business called the JC Agents. As part of the practical life curriculum, JC students earn certifications in CPR, First Aid, and Babysitting, which support some of their business activities. The class business offers services such as child care during PTO meetings and Parents Night Out, as well as raking and baking. Students learn to manage business accounts, market and advertise their offerings, budget, plan, and save.

Experiential learning is a cornerstone of the Montessori approach. In the JC classroom, students participate in travel trips that serve as capstone experiences, allowing them to apply knowledge learned throughout the academic year. As JC students spend three years in this classroom, the travel trips rotate among Washington, DC, Boston, MA, and New York City.